This invention relates to a fishing rod on which a fishing reel or spool is mounted and also relates to a method of manufacturing the same.
In a known technique, a fishing reel or spool is mounted on a fishing rod in such a manner that a metal plate seat or metal or plastic pipe seat is fitted to a fishing rod as a reel seat and a leg portion of the reel is then mounted on the reel seat at a portion between two movable and stationary hoods mounted on the reel seat.
However, the metal reel seat is cold particularly in the winter season and considerably heavy, thus providing significant problems. On the other hand, the plastic reel seat requires some extent of thickness for the mechanical strength thereof, resulting in the enlargement of the diameter of a grip portion of the fishing rod. Moreover, the existence of some bonding agent between the reel seat and the surface of a material pipe of the fishing rod may blunt a fisher's man feeling to a strike or bite of fish, and the plastic reel seat is apt to peel off from the material pipe of the fishing rod.
In order to obviate these defects or drawbacks, there has been recently provided a fishing rod in which a stationary hood is integrally secured to the rod pipe and screw grooves for the movable hood are formed on the outer surface thereof as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 224921/1986, and Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication Nos. 165170/1986 and 165168/1986.
One example of the conventional fishing rod of the type described above will be described with reference to FIG. 7.
Referring to FIG. 7, a rod 101 is constructed by mounting a prepreg sheet or tube on a core member for the rod 101 in a rolled-up manner, and the rod 101 is provided with a thickened portion 102, on the outer peripheral surface, having a certain axial length on which the leg portion 107 of a fishing reel is mounted. A thread portion 103 is formed continuously to and integrally with the thickened portion 102 on the outer peripheral surface of the rod 101 for engagement with a clamping ring 106 which secures a movable hood 105 of the reel. The threaded portion 3 is formed continuously to one end, near the grip portion of the rod 101, of the thickened portion 102, and a stationary hood 104 is secured to the other end of the thickened portion 102.
However, with the fishing rod of the type described above and shown in FIG. 7, the screw threads are formed directly on the outer surface of the body of the rod, so that the mechanical strength of the rod itself is inevitably weakened. Moreover, since the location of the threaded portion 103 is limited, the fixing position of the reel is limited.
Concerning the location of the reel seat on which the reel is mounted, users have their requirements based on their tastes or liking, or their physiques as well as fishing methods. Accordingly, the determination of the positioning of the reel seat on the rod is a significant problem for makers as well as users; and actually, rod sale shops have been always afflicted with the requirements of the users for changing the location of the reel seat or remodeling the same.